


Phantasmagoria

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Depression, F/F, F/M, Female Hange Zoë, Grisha isn't a good-for-nothing, Hange Sasha and Eren are siblings, Lucid Dreaming, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Nightmares, confused reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:05:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4231611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren Jeager has suffered from nightmares his whole life. No matter what he did to change his sleeping schedule, nothing seemed to ever work. If he wasn’t tossing and turning from nightmares, he was watching living dreams as he moved through his life. Despite the best efforts of his sisters, Hanji and Sasha, nothing seemed to help him get better. He tried going to the hospital a few times when he was younger, though he always seemed too scared to pull through. Now years later, he continues to trudge along through daily life, unaware of most of the world around him. Until a boy with dark eyes invades his life that he’s only barely kept together this whole time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Reality is Different

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually really excited to be writing this story, because I think it'll turn out really well. 
> 
> Please note that in later chapters, there will be violent scenes, and I am hoping to make this story rely more on imaginative sight, if that makes sense. That basically means that a lot of pieces are going to be more visual, as this story is about dreams. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, in case you don't know. This is the definition for the word Phantasmagoria: "a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream".
> 
> Sorry if this chapter is a bit short. It's kind of just an opening to introduce the story and give background. I don't think I'll be updating this story daily, but I might try for every other day. If not that, then I'll be doing it once a week.
> 
> Now please enjoy!

Dreams are desires and ideas that push us towards accomplishment. They bend reality to fuel the engines of our thoughts and childish imaginations. Each night, people sleep and hope for pleasant dreams to grace them with their presence. People desire to see new things, and to create and explore new worlds with their own eyes. Even if the worlds are never going to be real, people love and want them anyways.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are nightmares. The monsters hidden in the deepest pits of your heart and in the darkest depths of your brain await their time to strike. They are often lured out by fear and negativity, and they attack in the darkest times at the dead of night when nobody's around to save you. Some people are lucky, and they rarely have these monsters. They live in a world surrounded by dreams. Others aren’t so lucky. And I’m one of the others.

I had an excellent childhood, in my opinion. I was both an older and a younger brother. My sister Hanji was adopted by my parents a few years before I was born because the doctors said my mother was infertile, and would never be able to have children of her own. She wasn’t too bummed out about it, from the stories I heard, and later on they got little Hanji Zoe through a teenage pregnancy that the mother was unable to keep. I came along a few years later as an apparent immaculate conception. After nine months I chose to make my appearance in the world, and seven minutes and thirteen seconds later (which is the exact timing since my father didn’t hesitate to show us videos), my younger twin sister Sasha was born.

Since Hanji was two years older than us, we didn’t really fight with her. On top of that, we didn’t fight with each other that much either. I mean, we had our fights, but they weren’t that big and we rarely hit. My father showered us all with gifts to make up for the fact that he worked at the hospital as a doctor so much, and my mother was a first grade teacher at the elementary school down the street. It had a daycare, so Sasha and I grew up there as babies. We were almost perfect. We both ate and rarely fussed. She and I were normal kids.

When I was about four, I had my first nightmare. It was so vivid, and it felt so real at the time. I had gotten up out of my bed in the middle of the night to go pee. Sasha was sleeping soundly hidden under the covers of her racecar bed as I trudged sleepily out of the room and down the hall. It was so quiet in the house. The only things I heard were my own breath and the static noise an old television would make. At this point, I found nothing to be wrong, so I continued my quest. 

I had pressed my hand against the cool knob and pulled the door open. The knob didn’t even rattle. It was completely silent when I pulled it open. I walked inside and suddenly it was pitch black. The static was louder and my breath was cold and puffy, like I was a dragon. In addition to the previous noises, a small dripping was heard. I reached up for a light switch, but I found none. So, I decided to follow the static noise, to what I assumed would be a television and a parent. 

I followed that noise for what seemed to be forever, and it slowly but steadily grew louder until it was pounding against my ears. But it was still dark. Then, I tripped over my own feet, and fell down to the cold, hard ground. My hands met a rough, rocky surface, and I pushed myself up. The bottom of my left foot felt wet. Then, the static was gone. My breath was gone. Everything stopped existing. Looking down, I had felt around in an attempt to find something. My hand grabbed onto a warm, soft object, and everything turned bright. I looked down, only to see a human face. It was torn and bloody, the mouth stretched open wide in what appeared to be shock.

Then, I woke up screaming and crying. My parents barely beat Hanji into the room, and everyone did their best to comfort me while I cried. I never told anyone about the dream. But I knew it was real. My proof was in the little dry red spot on the bottom of my footie pajamas where I had gotten my foot wet. 

The dreams only continued with an increased frequency over time, and I eventually stopped telling my parents and Sasha about them. Occasionally, I would talk to Hanji or my best friend Armin, but they both said I should see a doctor. And I almost did a few times before realizing it would be stupid to bother a busy doctor about this stuff. Besides, they’d call me crazy. It was real. All of it.

Sometimes I’d see my friends in the dreams, but other times I got little souvenirs, as if my dreams were proving to me that they were all real. And I believed them. One time, I found a cat with long, silver fur, and the next day I looked out my bedroom window and saw the same cat through the rain. It was all real. Or at least, parts of it were. I was just never too sure which parts were. My dreams even started appearing to me during school. One time, in the middle of a boring history lecture, a big orange butterfly flew past my face. The small creature seemed to glow in front of me. It went on its way after landing on Mikasa’s nose, though she didn’t notice.

Later on when I told her, she gave me a small smile just over the thick red scarf she wears. It made me angry, as it looked like she pitied me, but I eventually moved on and accepted the fact that some people refused to see what I did.

I pulled myself through elementary and middle school stuck in what people called a daydream. In high school, it only got worse, but I managed to trudge through the first year of it. And that brings me to now, I guess. 

Hi. My name is Eren Jeager. I’m a sophomore, an Aries, I have two sisters, and I dream nightmares and live dreams.


	2. Of School and New Friends (Hopefully)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting me kind of excited since this is going to be a bit longer. I'm didn't actually expect it to be as long as it came out, so sorry if it's too much. It took a while to write, too. I was surprised. 
> 
> You can follow me on tumblr! My tumblr is Flamboyant-Watermelon and it can be found at http://flamboyant-watermelon.tumblr.com/ Feel free to shoot me a follow or anything. I check it at least once a day, and I'm going to be posting about this story sometimes, too.
> 
> Please enjoy the chapter!

“Eren, at this rate all three of us are going to be late!” A particularly excited sounding voice called through the house as I pulled on the light purple shirt, sticking my hands through the sleeves and pulling it over my head as I raced out of the door.

Shooting past my sister Sasha, I grabbed the black bag stuffed with books and various school supplies from my seat at the dining table. Sasha met up with me there and grabbed her white one, a large piece of jam-soaked toast hanging from her mouth as we both raced for the door. 

I beat her outside, so I got to sit in the front of the white 2005 Chevy Colorado that Hanji had received for her birthday when she turned sixteen. It wasn’t the one our parents had originally wanted to get her, but Hanji seemed dead set on a white one. She said it was because bird poop shows up less on white cars, but we all knew it was because she wanted to paint it with sharpie one day. 

Sasha came running out of the door, shutting and locking it as she pulled open the door to the second row, pushing her heavy bag inside before throwing herself in as she gulped down the remainder of her toast. Hanji started the car and pulled out, grinning wildly as she drove down the street. The car was silent until we turned the corner and our familiar little grey house was out of sight.

“Eren, you hungry? You wanna stop somewhere before we hit school? I mean, we’ll be early either way and you slept in too long so you missed the toast.” Hanji asked, glancing over at me. Her dark chocolate eyes met my teal eyes for a second before I shook my head and looked out the window.

As Sasha talked her head off about how excited she was to see our friends on our first day, I focused my attention on the familiar scenery. We lived about a five minute drive from our school, and we could definitely have walked if we wanted to, but Hanji loved driving her truck.   
It came in handy sometimes, since some days I get too tired or disoriented to focus on walking. Sometimes we are too late, so it helps on those days as well. 

The ride was uneventful, though I did see two young deer in the woods near the park. One was a light brown and had dark eyes while the other was a dark brown and it had lighter almost blue eyes. It had stared at me, and when I pointed it out to Sasha, they had already disappeared into the woods.

When we arrived at the school, Hanji parked in one of the spots near the back of the lot before Sasha and I burst out the doors. The two of us walked towards the doors of the school, but Sasha took off running as soon as she saw Jean and Connie. She tackled Connie in a hug, and the pair fell over.

By the time I reached them at my calm and slow pace, Jean was still laughing while a pink faced Connie listened to Sasha talk about how much she missed him (and Jean, though Connie probably wasn’t hearing that part) over the summer. 

Jean slowly stopped laughing and regained his composure long enough to say hi to me before he went inside the school. Hanji waved and left to go explore for her locker and homeroom, and Connie was practically dragged inside by Sasha, who was still talking, now about what she had for breakfast. I took a deep breath and pulled open the door.

When I stepped inside, a teacher asked for my name before giving me a locker number and class schedule. I flashed a small smile and mumbled thank you as I walked forward, looking down at the number. Locker 665. After looking down, I looked back up and hurried on towards the right locker. Hastily, I twisted the knob, entering the three number code before pulling the handle and giving it a harsh tug. 

The contents of the locker was pitch black. Of course it was. It was empty. Looking down at my schedule, I noted what I’d need from my bag and pulled the items out before pushing the rest of them into the locker and onto a hook. The darkness now held the outline of my bag, a patch of light mirroring off of the cold metal zipper as I shut my locker once more.

With about eight minutes left until the bell rang to signal the start of the day, I hurried along to my homeroom and slid into the seat beside my friend Armin before glancing around at the familiar faces. There were 24 light brown wood desks with matching independent seats in the room, arranged in a rectangular six by four pattern. 

In the first row, two of the seats were empty, while the last three near the windows and the one closest to the door were taken by old classmates I had spoken to at least once. If I remembered correctly, their names were Mina, Thomas, and Hannah. The second row contained Christa, her best friend and possible girlfriend Ymir, Jean, his crush Marco, and two more empty seats by the window. I sat in the window seat of the third row along with my friends Armin and Mikasa, then Sasha, and Connie. In the last row sat Annie with her friends Hitch, Marlo, Reiner, and Bertholt, with the seat near the window empty. 

Marco spoke about his summer, and our row joined in the conversation. Our two rows were full of all of our friends, and relief flooded over me when I realized we hadn’t been put in separate classes. The conversation wasn’t too interesting, and I was furthest away since the two seats ahead of me that were closest were empty, though I didn’t mind. Slowly, I lost focus and began to stare off into space while thinking about nothing.

When a pair of students, Franz and Anka, came in as the bell rung, I regained my focus. Right behind them was our homeroom and English teacher, Mr. Pixis. I had him last year for the class, so I just zoned right back out as he went over rules and expectations for the school year. By the time the bell rang to signal the end of class, I had paid attention for a grand total of three minutes.

The day carried on just as lazily and uneventful as the first class had, but before I knew it, it was last period. My last class of the day was science with Professor Nile Dok. He was known around the school as a very rational person who only judged using data. I liked that, and I respected him, though that didn’t stop me from disliking the class he ran. Science was one of my least favorite subjects. Not because I was bad, but because my grades were poor. We did a lot of experiments in his class, but I could never focus and so I always got them messed up. But this year would be different. I had Armin.

My amazing lab partner Armin Arlert sent me a nervous smile as soon as we exited the class with our new assigned partners. Then, he spoke in a quiet tone.

“I want to get a good grade in that class, Eren, so please try to focus on our experiments.” His light blue eyes looked up at me while he smiled softly until I nodded.

“No promises, but I will try.”

Armin seemed ecstatic that I had even agreed to try, and he waved before rushing off to his locker. I mirrored his goal and slowly made my way to mine. Entering the code once more, I pulled open the dark locker once more. Only this time, it wasn’t dark. Wedged in the corner near the back of the bottom of the locker, a small object was glowing. Quickly, I looked around the now almost empty area before leaning in and reaching down, digging into the corner to see what the glowing item was.

The pads of my middle and pointer fingers scraped against the cool metal bottom of my locker, and continued to feel in the dark until they met with the overlap of metal where the screws held the locker together. I scraped the two fingers harder against the surface in an attempt to find what was wedged there. I continued to go back and forth, pressing harder in the darkness each round, until my fingers were numb from the cold locker. Then, I resorted to using my whole hand, determined to find it.

The halls were now completely silent as I scraped my hand against the bottom of the locker, the only sounds around me coming from the skin scraping against metal and my heartbeat in my chest. Soon my hand was numb, and I pulled it out. When I did, I almost screamed.

My hand was dripping blood, some skin peeled back to show off bloody muscle, the peeled flesh hanging from spots on my fingers and palm. A chunk of flesh from my pointer finger was missing, and from what I could tell, it was now wedged between two slices of metal in my locker.

I fell backwards, my eyes wide with shock as a silent scream tore at my throat. Then, a cold and reserved voice startled me to attention.

“What are you looking at on the floor like that? You look like a dying fish.”

I looked up at the short stranger with raven hair and pitch black eyes before looking back down. My hand was fine. I looked at the locker, which was once again pitch black, before looking back up. I didn’t know his name, but he looked to be the same age as me, and he was leaning against the locker next to mine; locker number 666.

“I… Don’t know.” My voice was quiet as I pushed myself off the floor, my gaze lowered to my feet as I reused to look the glaring boy straight in the eyes. Once I was standing, I noticed I was taller than him. Taller than I thought.

“Hi. I’m Eren. I’m in class 10A.” I spoke quietly, raising my hand as I offered a shake. My hand was empty, but just as I was about to put it back down, he placed his hand in mine and shook it firmly.

“Levi. I’m in 10B.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Levi!” I grinned as I pulled my hand away from his, happy to have met someone new on my first day. I was used to following Mikasa, Armin, and Sasha around with their friends, so I hadn’t really made friends on my own. This would be my first time.

“The school is closing in five minutes, so I’d hurry up and pack up if I were you, kid.” The boy Levi said with a straight face before he turned and walked off. He was a strange person already. From what I could tell, he had no emotions, and he liked looking down on people. I didn’t look like a fish or a kid in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I followed his advice and grabbed my bag, emptying it of most of its contents before zipping it shut and closing my locker. Then, I went to meet up with Hanji and Sasha by the truck for a ride home.

By the time I reached the truck, a crowd was gathered in the back talking. The faces I noticed were Hanji’s friends. There was a young girl with short blonde hair named Nanaba, a brunette named Petra, another blonde with glasses named Rico, a girl with black hair named Ilse, and a guy with thick eyebrows named Erwin. Along with their group sat Sasha, Connie, and Jean. Waving, Sasha ran towards me once she spotted me.

“Eren, Connie and I are gonna see a movie, and Jean is coming over to hang out and have dinner! Hanji and her friends are all going to the park, then Rico’s going to stay for dinner too! Connie and I will be there by then, too! Such a big dinner, huh? I bet that means there will be lots more food.”

I smiled slightly and nodded, barely listening to what she said as she spoke about how Hanji’s friends were all riding in the back, while Jean sat in the front and I squeezed in the back with Sasha and Connie. When all of us were in the right spots and Erwin had signalled that they were all comfortable in the pickup, Hanji took off.

The whole ride home I was detached from the conversation, and I only stared out the window. The first stop we made was at the movie theater, and suddenly I wasn’t squeezed into the window. Then, we drove to the park and everyone got out.

Jean wanted to head to my house immediately, but I hushed him and ran into the woods to see if I could find any trace of the deer I saw earlier this morning. Jean ran in behind me, but quickly fell behind as I went deeper inside and the wood became thicker. Eventually, they became too thick for me, so I turned back. As soon as I did, however, I heard a crunch nearby.

Instantly, I perked up and looked over towards the noise. Standing by a nearby bush was the little deer I saw this morning. It turned towards me, its blue eyes never leaving mine as it walked with a slight limp towards me. I crouched slightly so our eyes were level, and it touched its nose to mine. Its nose was cold and wet, like a dog’s would be. Comfortable yet uncomfortable. I reached my hand forwards to touch it, but we both froze when I heard a sound come from the woods ahead where it was thinner.

“...ren! Eren! Where are you?” Called Jean’s voice. I looked back over to the deer, only to see it vanishing through the bush. Half my mind yelled to follow it, but now I knew it was real. I told myself I couldn’t follow it or it’d get scared, then I started walking back towards the car and home.

I ran into Jean and the two of us made it out of the woods. We’d only spent half an our of our three hours in the woods before we made our way to my house, which was still empty for the day. My dad was still at work, and my mom usually stayed until 5:30 at the school, meaning we had about an hour and a half left until she got home. With that time, we chose to do what all normal teenagers would do after their first day of school.

Play the bloodiest video game we had in the house.

Jean won almost every round, since I seemed to be out of it today and he was better than me at the game because his parents didn’t care if he played it too much. My mind was more focused on Levi and the deer I’d seen today than anything else. I kept thinking about the long locks with an undercut and his dark eyes. He was definitely a looker. 

But I did win our last round, as I made a lightning quick comeback to combat my crap gaming, and won as my character’s sword sliced through Jean’s character’s neck, causing most of his head to fall from his neck before a sword was plunged down to mess up his innards.

Blood spurted everywhere with the finishing move, and it coated the screen before dripping down in a pattern that read “Player One Wins”.

I sat victorious as Jean frowned and began putting the game away. After that, we got out a game of Clue and threw some pieces and cards down to make it look like we were playing an excruciatingly long game. Just as I made my second move, my mom came in.

“Hello, Jean.” She smiled in greeting as she came into the room, her ID still around her neck.

“Hi, Carla.” Jean grinned up at her as he moved his piece into a room so he could guess. He was very casual around my mom, seeing as we grew up with him over a lot. We’d usually get into fights when we were smaller due to my slight anger issues and his inability to take a joke. On top of that, my mom let all kids call her Carla, as she found it to be simpler and friendlier.

“Are you staying for dinner?” She asked as she watched us play. Jean groaned as he marked a room off of his paper. His guess had been wrong, take that!

“Yeah. Rico and Connie are coming over with Hanji and Sasha, too.” I looked up at my mom as I spoke. Then, I turned my attention back to the game and moved my piece.

“Oh, those two are so respectful. I am so glad my children made such wonderful friends.” She said as she stood to go prepare dinner. As soon as she left, the door was thrown open, and a loud teen pushed her way inside, the quiet and respectful Rico trailing behind her.

“Carla, I’m home! Oh, you’re playing Clue, Eren??” Hanji immediately made her way over to the board, watching it quietly as if it would tell her the answer to the game. She’d always been very perceptive. Like when she was about six, she managed to figure out she was adopted. To find out, she had already known my parents weren’t able to have kids. Then, she asked things like “what’s your blood type” to my parents and get her own taken by someone at my dad’s work during a checkup. About four months later, and she came to my parents asking if she was adopted with every piece of evidence she required. It’s still her favorite story to tell.

“The shouldn’t be able to make an arrest based on what little clues they have. Shouldn’t they examine the body to discover what killed them, and press for fingerprints and get alibis? This game isn’t very logical when you follow with what you should be doing in this situation, you know.” Rico spoke in a quiet voice as she tried pointing out every flaw with the game while Jean entered the room to guess.

“But that takes the fun out of it. It’s about using your wits to make a smart move and figure it out based on what other people know.” I said before glancing to the door, which had been thrown open again. Sasha and Connie came into the room, Sasha sitting so she was perched on the arm of the chair Hanji had placed herself in. Jean then yelled in victory as he shoved the cards from the envelope into my face to show he had won.

“Take that Eren!” Jean spoke smugly.

“Don’t let one little victory get to your head.” I growled as the sparks began to fly between the two of us. Our fight was luckily cut short as my mom came back out to tell us to wash up for dinner. Jean and I quickly put the game away and joined the other four teens at washing our hands before we sat at the table.

Our table was a simple wooden table that fit two people on each side and two heads. Usually Sasha and I would sit on one side, and Hanji on the other with my parents on each end, but today was different. To accommodate seven people, my mother and I each sat at a head with an extra seat to my left for Jean. Connie sat in my regular seat sandwiched between Jean and Sasha, and Hanji and Rico claimed their own side.

Our dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, macaroni, and chicken sandwiches. I stared down at my food, stirring my macaroni with my fork for a few minutes before stabbing a piece and placing it in my mouth.

I bit down and a sharp pain filled my mouth. I could feel the macaroni break into pieces inside, embedding the shards of noodle into my mouth and gums. As I continued to chew the object that had turned to glass, my own blood filled my mouth. I swallowed and nearly choked as it scraped its way down. Reaching forward I took a sip of water from my glass, and the feeling and taste of blood vanished.

After that, I went back to moving my food around.

“Eren, don’t play with your food. Eat it or refrigerate it for later.” My mom spoke after watching me eat nothing for a few minutes. 

Nodding, I picked up my plate and moved to the fridge, mumbling an “I’m not hungry tonight” as I did so. Then, I left the room and hiked up the stairs to the safety of my own room.

The light grey walls were my safety as I shut my door and crept over to my bed, nearly collapsing into it. I rolled onto my back and stared up at my blank ceiling, allowing my thoughts to drift as I did so. And they flew right back to Levi.

I hadn’t seen him before, otherwise I would have remembered. Were my interactions with the other class that limited? I mean, I’d heard his name before, but I’d never seen his face. Same could go for a lot of other students in the other class.

Too bad, though. I wish I’d met him sooner. He was going to be a good friend. Or maybe more.

I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, burying my face into the pillow as a blush crept onto my cheeks. That was such an embarrassing thought. I had to get my mind off of Levi.

I laid there in my bed like that for about half an hour, thinking about what I did today and what I’d need to do tomorrow. Quickly, I managed to make a small list of things I needed to. Then, I let myself drift off into another unpleasant night of sleep.


	3. Dreams of Darkness and Deer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long break between chapters. I wound up getting confused because I took a short break from writing, and then I got frustrated and deleted a big chunk I didn't like, so it's pretty short. 
> 
> I'm also starting to write out a new story I'm going to post in a while, and I've been working on developing that a bit more than I should be.
> 
> Well, enjoy, and I'll be faster updating.

The sky was dark when I woke up. But when I looked down, the ground was dark. I lifted my body up and pushed the covers away before I walked to the window in my bedroom. I looked to the sky but saw nothing. No moon, no stars, no clouds. There was nothing.

I turned around and exited the room. But when I stepped out, expecting to see the familiar dark hallway, I found nothing to be there. No doors leading to other rooms. There weren’t even stairs. There was nothing.

I shut my eyes, placing my hands over my ears and shaking it side to side as if I could shake away the dream I had fallen into. But when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in my room. But I was also not in my bed. 

Slowly and cautiously, I lowered my hands from my ears. Noises met them almost instantly. I hear crickets chirping and an owl hooting in the distance. When did I get to the park? I was still dreaming, right? Why did it feel so real?

Looking around, I managed to notice nothing out of the ordinary. The park was empty and dark, and I felt as if I could relax. Until twigs snapped. I whipped my body around to see Armin and Mikasa swinging on the swings Their faces were blank, and their eyes were empty. I began to step towards them when I heard another noise. I turned to the side to find the deer from earlier.

Cautiously, I made my way over towards the animal, but it simply turned around and headed towards the woods I had followed it into earlier. Then, it took off running. 

As if on instinct, I took off after it, not caring as branches and leaves scratched against me as I made my way into the thick, dark woods ahead of me. My breathing became labored as the other noises became muffled and quiet. The branches slapping me in the face became closer together, and they cut deeper, like small knives into my skin. 

Tears of crimson slowly dripped down my face and arms, tearing into and staining the plain white shirt. Eventually, my body stopped, and I was out of breath. My breathing became lighter, and the deer I had been chasing stopped as well, turning to stare at me with its light blue eyes.

Then, it turned around and pushed its way through some bushes. I stood still and caught my breath before slowly walking forwards to the bushes. I pushed my way into an enclosed area. I blinked slowly as the creature that stood in the center of the grassy space wasn’t the deer, but the boy I’d met earlier that day.

He seemed out of breath, but his eyes widened in surprise as they stared ahead at me.

“You aren’t a doe.” I spoke, a hint of disbelief playing in the back of my throat.

“Congratulations. You have at least a little common sense.” The boy brought his hands together slowly, then parted them, bringing them back a few more times for a slow clap. I kind of felt insulted, as I had legitimately expected to see a wild animal in this area, and not a young and pretty attractive peer I had only met hours ago.

“Levi, why are you in my dream?”

“A dream? I have no clue what you’re talking about. It’s the middle of the goddamn afternoon.” With a small gesture, his eyes looked up at the sky. And suddenly, it was bright. Like a flash of lightning, it was over quick, but in those few moments of brightness I looked at Levi’s eyes and saw stormy clouds with rain pounding down into an ocean. The wind howled behind his irises, and the waves danced a violent number for me. Then it was all over, and the light absorbed the eyes too.

I gasped as I lept forward, the top half of my body lurching forward. I was in my own bed again, and the shrill beeping of my alarm clock played along with the wild flashing of the bright green numbers that read 7:01. 

Slowly, I managed to wake up and rub the sleep from my eyes. Then, I hit the snooze button so hard that I’m surprised the poor thing managed to survive and only shut off as opposed to becoming a pile of scrap.

“Eren!” Sasha yelled as she burst into my room, jumping onto my bed. Her rear connected with my legs, and I hissed at my younger twin as I tugged relentlessly on the covers in the hopes that I’d manage to make her fall from my bed. It worked, but not how I wanted. Giving a sharp tug, she and I both fell to my floor, though I gasped loudly while Sasha just laughed.

Looking over, it took me a few moments before I realized that she must have been up for at least ten minutes, because she was now wearing a baby blue dress that made it to her knees as well as a pair of plain black tights. The fact that it was Sasha’s favorite dress was obvious because of two reasons. First, she wore it at least once every two weeks. And second, the dress was covered top to bottom in little yellow ducks with bright orange beaks. If you knew Sasha’s personality, it suddenly made sense.

Click. I could hear the gears in my head click into place and freeze. Suddenly, I understood why Sasha was in my room so early yelling my name and sitting on my bed. I let out a loud sigh and spoke before she could let out another eager word.

“Fine, Sash. Just get out. I’ll be down in fifteen.” I groaned as I stood, trudging over to my dresser and pulling out a pair of plain black jeans.

About fourteen minutes later, I was downstairs halfheartedly shoving a piece of strawberry toast down my throat. Today was duck day. I wore my black jeans with a simple baby blue top covered in ducks identical to Sasha’s ducks. Hanji, on the other hand, wore a black t-shirt with a pair of baby blue pants covered in ducks. And needless to say, she was much more enthusiastic about the matching outfits. 

I wanted to go to my room and pull on a jacket, but it was too hot for sleeves today, and Sasha’s heart would likely break over it. Whenever she managed to convince Hanji to wear her ducks, I mostly became screwed.

A quiet and muffled yawn filled the room as my father came into the room. He looked exhausted, meaning he had likely just gotten home from work at the hospital. As if the world was confirming my thoughts, he carried a cup of steaming coffee from a local cafe with him. Plopping down at the table, he took a sip before sending us a sleepy smile.

“Hello you three. How was your first day of school?” He asked. I really respect my dad. Despite the fact that he’s not home as much as we’d all like him to be, since he’s at the hospital a lot, he’s still a great father and husband. Lately, he’s been saving up so we could all go to Germany for winter vacation.

“It was great, Grisha!” Hanji grinned as Sasha shoved toast in her own face and I retrieved my cold sandwich from the fridge. A comfortable silence fell across the table, and I managed to finish half my sandwich before it was time to go to school.

The three of us piled into Hanji’s car once more, and she took off for school. We managed to arrive at 7:25, and we all sped for our lockers. I opened mine, grimacing slightly as my mind wandered to what happened to my hand yesterday. My fist automatically clenched, and it took all my power to stop myself from punching the back of the locker.

Shaking my head, I gathered my books for first period into my hands and slammed my locker shut.

“Hey there, kid”

The steely voice startled me, and I spun to the side to stare at Levi in shock. I hadn’t heard him come up earlier. Looking at him, I took notes on the jacket he worse despite the heat, and the lack of books and interest in anything in general.

“We’re the same age.” I attempted to remind him as he called me young. “Besides, you’re the little one here.”

A dark look appeared on his face and he seemed to hold himself back so he wouldn’t hit me. I smirked mentally and also took a note on how he seemed to dislike being called little.

“At least I’m not the one wearing what I can call the stupidest shirt I have ever seen in my life.” 

Looking down at the happy ducks, I pouted slightly, a little angry about his retort. The sad part was that it was true; I hated the shirt too.

Our awkwardly tense silence was disrupted as the bell to class rang.

“Shit!” I yelled as I turned, starting to dash down the hall towards my first period. Then, I stopped as I remembered the shorty I was just talking to. I turned back to face him as I yelled a “see you later”, but he had already vanished.


End file.
